Kakariko
by LitRaptor42
Summary: Woe to those who wish to know more about the Sheikah. Oneshot, Link's POV


Kakariko Village was burning. How much of it or for how long, I could not tell, but the smoke rose over the top of the ridge into a great plume that almost obscured the sight of Death Mountain. I had been able to see it almost since crossing the river half a day before, and my heart quivered in fear of what I was to see.

I jumped down from Epona. "Wait here," I said to her softly, and she whinnied. Her flanks were shivering with unease, but she stood still and looked at me. Return quickly, her soft eyes seemed to be saying, and I stroked her nose, then ran.

The stairs leading up to the village were lightly clouded with smoke, burning my lungs as I ran up, taking them two at a time. Naturally, I thought grumpily, and almost smiled at my own stupidity, in the midst of my fear: straight from the top of Death Mountain to the bottom of Lake Hylia... then back into the flames. Would I ever see the greenness of Kokiri Forest again?

As I crossed into the village, I allowed myself to sigh in relief. It appeared that all the inhabitants of the village were long since gone; even the Hylian guard who normally stood at the gates had fled. But my heart sank at the destruction the thatch-roofed buildings had already taken; many still burned with fierce purple flames, and those that did not were reduced to smoldering rubble that gave off foul, stinking clouds of smoke. Why would it not rain?

Abruptly I noticed a slight figure standing in front of the village well, and my throat swelled. Sheik. I dashed forward; he had clearly come straight from Lake Hylia, whereas I had made a stop at Lon Lon Ranch to visit Malon. I brushed away the thought that perhaps the two of us together could have stopped this conflagration, as it was futile to think that stopping Epona from seeing her former mistress had been within my powers at the time.

I had not even mounted the stairs leading to the well, when Sheik's soft voice rang out. "Don't come any closer, Link." I could not see his face, but his shoulders were tensed, and his dagger was drawn as he faced the well.

What could be in that well? Better yet, what could be in that well that he thought I could not face? I knew that the Sheikah were powerful, with physical abilities I could never hope to attain, yet I had faced monsters that haunted dreams. Was this a surge of protectiveness on his part, or was my friend truly afraid I was not prepared?

I wanted to call out to him, but abruptly my tongue froze in my mouth as the top of the well exploded from its stones, flying almost beyond the windmill. A chill, a very literal freezing sensation, penetrated my body, and I gasped for breath. Sheik was so still that I could not even discern his breathing; and then he too gasped, clutching his throat. Unable to move, I watched in horror as some unseen force gripped him, his dagger falling uselessly from his hand.

His entire body slowly rose into the air; I could barely breathe as the invisible creature silently began tossing him around like a rag doll. I heard his back break. His cries as his body struck the sides of buildings burned in my ears; a shower of sparks erupted from one such flaming roof and showered right over me, yet still I could not move. This was a horror I had not yet experienced: to watch a friend be killed by a monster I could not even begin to guess at.

My voice finally struggled loose, and I cried out. As if having suddenly heard me, the monster dropped its prey. I heard the bones of his arm crunch as he struck the grass. I would say that the creature then vanished, but as I could not see it in the first place, perhaps it is easier to say that I lost track of its presence as I ran to Sheik's side.

There are no words for the anguish, fear and seething anger I felt as I bent down by that broken form. I looked up from his agony, fury getting the better of me as I saw the monster finally revealing itself: a shapeless cloud, like insects swarming toward a crop. Before I could think about it, my sword was drawn, and I stood over my friend, waiting for it to come at me.

I felt a hand on my ankle. "No, Link," said Sheik, and I looked down to see his clear eyes, desperate. "No!"

The fear spread through me again, and the monster saw it; I don't know how. A crack of thunder split the air as it charged toward me, and suddenly my only thought was to protect my friend. There was only a moment to uselessly swing at it with my sword, before I was thrown back against the stairs, and my head smacked something hard. Blackness.

It must have only been a few minutes, but my head ached abysmally, as if I had been comatose for a week. I waited for a moment to open my eyes, the sky spinning above me. Rain pattered on my face: but through it I could see a pair of red eyes, obscured by yellow hair.

I gasped as I sat up, wincing at the sudden surge of pain in my head, and gazed at him in wonder. He was exhausted, that much I could tell, and stains of blood showed on his arms and shoulders. Yet there were no other signs of what he had gone through.

His eyes met mine, and I could sense his smile through the mask. "Yes, we Sheikah truly have mysterious powers, do we not? The least of these is not healing, my friend."

His hand gently came to the back of my head, and my breath came short, against my will. "You yourself are lucky to be alive. That creature is one of the ancient evils of Hyrule, and neither you nor I were equipped to fight it." His eyes turned to the well, narrowing. "It has taken Impa, leader of the Sheikahs, into the temple of shadow, a place which can only be entered with the aid of your Ocarina."

He turned to me once more, and stood. "Yet there are other items you will need for this journey. Do you remember this well?"

I shivered and nodded, remembering only too clearly the dead voices crying for help, the frustrating invisible spaces, the creatures that haunted those dark passages. It had been a weird journey, right from the beginning, that man in the windmill paradoxically teaching me the song that I had earlier taught him. Until that point, I had enjoyed going back to my childhood, the days when I did not feel huge and alone. But that journey, obviously made to obtain a useful item, had been miserable.

Then it suddenly became clear, and standing up, slowly I drew out the Lens of Truth. "Yes," Sheik said, and his voice was amused. "You already had it. I wonder that you did not think to use it before, when the creature emerged."

My cheeks burned, and he smiled again. "I am sorry: that was thoughtless. You did not know its identity. There would not have been time, in any case. Its powers have multiplied until even Impa could be captured by it. In this temple, you will have the opportunity to meet it in a place where it can be defeated with tools that you possess: and you will defeat it. I have faith in you, Hero of Time."

He came toward me once more, and my heart swelled. The buildings were beginning to slow their frenzied burning, as the rain damped and cooled the fires, and peace seemed to be returning to the village once more. A ray of sunshine played against the windmill; the clouds parted to show the dark sky.

"The Shadow Temple can be reached by playing this song: the Nocturne of Shadow." He led me through it on his harp, and as I repeated the notes he nodded. "Excellent. We will meet again, Link." And suddenly, with a flash, he was gone.

As I took my hand down from my eyes, a bitter disappointment sank into me. The sounds and sights of his torture still choked my eyes and ears, yet he had left with not so much as a word of it. The only consolation I had was that we would meet again: he had promised it before.

The Sheikah were a mysterious people: woe to those who loved them. 


End file.
